Thursday, March 09, 2017

James W. Ellsworth and the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893

Recently, I gave a talk at the Hudson Antiques Club about WRA's benefactor James W. Ellsworth and Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.

I will be giving a similar presentation to the Hudson Heritage Association on Thursday, April 13, 2017, at the Barlow Community Center at 7:30 p.m. The presentation will also include references to The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson and will be taped to show later on Hudson Community Television. This program is open to the public.

The following pictures will be included in my upcoming presentation. The captions depict an interesting time in history, tying together WRA's James W. Ellsworth and one of the most significant events in Chicago's history - the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.
James W. Ellsworth at age 40, about the time he became a Director of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893
Bird's eye view of the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, 1893
The Agriculture Hall at the World's Columbian Exposition, part of the complex of buildings that gave it the nickname "the White City"
WRA student Ralph F. Portmann '33 with the eagle from the statue of The Republic by Daniel Chester French that stood in the main basin at the World's Columbian Exposition. James W. Ellsworth brought back this eagle and the globe it stood on to his barn at Evamere Farm in Hudson after the Exposition ended. It was used as a decoration for a WRA dance in April 1933.
James W. Ellsworth's Exposition pass. He kept many such souvenirs of the Chicago Exposition of 1893